A 65-year-old ragpicker, who lost a limb in a chemical blast on Sunday, has told the police that he accidentally stepped on a steel container and it exploded immediately.
In a statement to Adugodi police on Monday, Narasimha said that he was looking for carton boxes in a garbage pile when he stepped on the container at 9th Cross in Rangadasappa Layout near Lakkasandara. Narasimha is being treated at the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital.
The area around the blast site is strewn with construction debris dumped by metro workers and industrial waste thrown by local granite
factories.
The blast has brought into sharp focus the dangers of haphazard disposal of industrial waste in the city.
A police officer said that they were reviewing the CCTV footage to trace the person who threw the container in the garbage dump. Police have also recorded two eyewitness statements. One eyewitness, a 41-year-old local contractor named Krishna V, has filed a complaint on behalf of Narasimha, the officer said.
Published 09 March 2020, 19:48 IST